British resident accused of murdering wife in south west France goes on trial

A British man accused of killing his wife by running over her with his car was due to go on trial in south west France on Wednesday.

Published: 8 December 2021 16:17 CET

British resident accused of murdering wife in south west France goes on trial

The Palais de Justice, Cahors. Image: Google Street View

David Turtle, 67, is alleged to have driven his vehicle deliberately at his wife, Stephanie, 60, outside their home in Prayssac, in the Lot département, crushing her under the vehicle after a row.

The former car dealer has denied the charge, saying her death was a tragic accident.

Emergency services called to the scene early on March 30th, 2017, were unable to revive Mrs Turtle, who had suffered multiple trauma injuries

A police report noted blood stains were found around and on the vehicle and tyre marks were also noted.

Turtle told police that, following a late-night argument, he left the house to go for a drive.

He heard his wife following as he got into the car, but did not see her in the dark, and drove away for a few metres before stopping. It was then he discovered Mrs Turtle underneath the vehicle.

The couple had moved to France from southwest England in 2016, to restore a property in the village which they intended to run as a bed and breakfast.

The trial is expected to last three days.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.